Which Godzilla films would you introduce your friends and family to the series with?

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GodzillaXGomoraFight
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Re: Which Godzilla films would you introduce your friends and family to the series with?

Post by GodzillaXGomoraFight »

Here are the movies I think are good for introducing to friends/family:

1) Godzilla King of the Monsters (1956): most people I know unless they watch anime can't stand subtitles, so I picked this movie over the Japanese version. It is one of the first movies that I watched as well and is a classic in it's own right. Good way to show someone the movie that started it all.

2) Destroy All Monsters: good film to show a friend if you want to show them some major tropes such as monster brawls, alien invasions, and Ifukube themes. I pick this one over Invasion of Astro Monster and Final Wars because it does not have the goofiness of Godzilla dancing in space and imo Final Wars is only good if you have watched previous films and you have attachments to certain kaiju.

3. Godzilla vs. Gigan/Megalon: if I were showing the movies to a young kid, either of these movies are good choices.

4. Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992): if you have a girlfriend or have female relatives who have feminine sensibilities, this movie has that going for it in its fantasy elements related to Mothra. Showed my old ex this movie and she liked it a lot because of Mothra and the music.

5. Godzilla 2000: solid movie to establish a baseline for future movies to watch. Not a bad first movie to see.

6. Monsterverse movies: now that they are mainstream thanks to Godzilla vs. Kong, this might be the easiest route to go. Doesn't have dubbing or old effects which people I know often bash Godzilla for despite never really giving the movies a fighting chance.

Honorable mentions: King Kong vs. Godzilla, Invasion of Astro Monster, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla/SOS
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Re: Which Godzilla films would you introduce your friends and family to the series with?

Post by Jermobooka »

I have successfully indoctrinated gotten my friend into Godzilla with the MonsterVerse films alone. He’s no watched the MV films, the original, and Shin. His current favorite is GvK and his least favorite is, surprisingly, the original. All while Shin is the second favorite.

Suffice to say, the MV is the best possible introduction to the Godzilla series
Last edited by Jermobooka on Wed Apr 28, 2021 10:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Which Godzilla films would you introduce your friends and family to the series with?

Post by Tyrant_Lizard_King »

Mothra vs Godzilla or Ghidrah are decent places to start I think. They're just the right mix of goofy and serious if they can handle the goofier aspects of Ghidrah there's a better chance they could tolerate some of the later films. Honestly I think Godzilla 1985 would be a good place to start. Its new enough and the fx work is relatively strong. It's also relatively grounded and "realistic". Obviously Smog Monster or Space Godzilla are probably out of the question. I think Final Wars could also work depending on the kinds of films they're in to.
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Re: Which Godzilla films would you introduce your friends and family to the series with?

Post by eabaker »

Jermobooka wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 10:28 am Suffice to say, the MV is the best possible introduction to the Godzilla series
Best possible for a certain audience, at least. I think most of my friends would never have bothered to watch another Godzilla movie if any of them had started with the MonsterVerse.

Added in 9 minutes 11 seconds:
Tyrant_Lizard_King wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 7:25 pm Obviously Smog Monster or Space Godzilla are probably out of the question.
Um, I've used Smog Monster to successfully get someone interested in Godzilla. For people interested in outré cinema, I think it's one of the best choices available.
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Re: Which Godzilla films would you introduce your friends and family to the series with?

Post by Major sssspielberg! »

Vs Mechagodzilla, Destroy All Monsters, Ghidrah, 2000, Smog Monster, even Final Wars.
The Toho films, with practical FX are a different animal than the Monsterverse in my book.
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Re: Which Godzilla films would you introduce your friends and family to the series with?

Post by Voyager »

If they’re cinephiles I’d start with Shin, G54 or MvG.
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Re: Which Godzilla films would you introduce your friends and family to the series with?

Post by Gojira1604 »

Showing my mother (Kaiju) films in this order:
Years ago already:
D wars
King Kong 05
Pacific Rim
Godzilla & Mothra The Battle for Earth
Godzilla 2000
GMK
Vs Megaguirus
Godzilla 2014
ROM 1 & 2
Against Mechagodzilla
Tokyo SOS
1998
Kong Skull Island
Shin Godzilla
Pacific Rim Uprising
City on the Edge
Planet Eater
KOTM

Started this Year:
Kong Skull Island
2014
KOTM
1954
The Return of Godzilla
GVK
Godzilla Vs Biollante
Godzilla Vs King Ghidorah
Rodan
Godzilla Vs The Wolfman

Continuing later this year hopefully:
The Battle for Earth
GVMG2
Vs Spacegodzilla
Vs Destoroyah
1998
Mothra Vs Godzilla
ROM 1
ROM 2
Invasion of Astro Monster
Horror of the Deep
Son of Godzilla
Smog Monster
Vs Gigan
Vs Mechagodzilla 1974
DWars
Godzilla Final Wars
Gamera 1, 2, 3 & The Brave.

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Re: Which Godzilla films would you introduce your friends and family to the series with?

Post by JAGzilla »

Bumping this thread since this is a popular discussion topic at the moment.

I personally haven't made much effort to introduce anyone to the franchise outside of my family. My mom has no interest in the genre at all, and really just doesn't watch much fiction in general, so none of the several movies she's seen have landed for her, and that isn't going to change. I then have four younger siblings, all of whom have seen a range of movies from all eras. The two older brothers, both in their twenties, respect the practical effects of the Showa-Millennium eras, but don't have any real interest beyond that. Both hate PR and the Monsterverse, and neither has seen Shin yet.

Then my teenage sister and brother are pretty much the opposite. They'll occasionally endure a pre-'14 movie if guilt them into watching on November 3rd or something, but have zero interest. My sister likes pretty much any of the US Kaiju stuff from GINO on, being a fan of CGI spectacle, and will even suggest GINO or the PR movies sometimes on family movie nights.

I haven't gotten any of them to watch the Gamera Trilogy yet; I'm curious how that will go over.
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Re: Which Godzilla films would you introduce your friends and family to the series with?

Post by Legion1979 »

G54, Mothra vs Godzilla and Godzilla vs Hedorah always work best for me. The Gamera trilogy and GMK do too.

The Hesiei Godzilla series tends to go over like a lead balloon.

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Re: Which Godzilla films would you introduce your friends and family to the series with?

Post by mikelcho »

I'd probably start with the first four Showa Godzilla films along with Rodan and Mothra for the Showa era.

The Heisei era I'd do all seven, simply because of the great continuity between them, with the original 1954 film at the beginning, of course.

The Millennium era I'd do Godzilla 2000: Millennium.

All of these would be the Japanese versions with subtitles.

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Re: Which Godzilla films would you introduce your friends and family to the series with?

Post by JAGzilla »

mikelcho wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 8:19 am I'd probably start with the first four Showa Godzilla films along with Rodan and Mothra for the Showa era.
GRA is an interesting choice. I personally find a lot of charm in its unconventional and sloppy aspects, but I imagine most non-fans (and most fans, really) would just be bored with it, especially as an introduction. It is going to depend on the person, though.
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Re: Which Godzilla films would you introduce your friends and family to the series with?

Post by mikelcho »

JAGzilla wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 9:33 am
mikelcho wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 8:19 am I'd probably start with the first four Showa Godzilla films along with Rodan and Mothra for the Showa era.
GRA is an interesting choice. I personally find a lot of charm in its unconventional and sloppy aspects, but I imagine most non-fans (and most fans, really) would just be bored with it, especially as an introduction. It is going to depend on the person, though.
I basically included GRA because it explains how Godzilla was frozen in an iceberg in KKvG in the first place. I also do like the fight between Godzilla and Anguirus in Osaka in this film - it was much more, shall we say, savage and brutal than many of the monster fights that came later - except for the fact that they were sped up too fast, but that was admittedly a mistake on the film crew's part, so that couldn't be helped.

It's a good thing that most of the Japanese subtitled versions of these films I've chosen are widely available in this country.
Last edited by mikelcho on Sun Jan 23, 2022 10:35 am, edited 5 times in total.

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Re: Which Godzilla films would you introduce your friends and family to the series with?

Post by Kaltes-Herzeleid »

Well from my experience the Gamera trilogy works perfectly. Also KotM had a positive reception when a couple of friends watched it.
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Re: Which Godzilla films would you introduce your friends and family to the series with?

Post by Legion1979 »

mikelcho, I noticed you mentioned the necessity of showing GRA or the entire Heisei series because of continuity. One thing I've found that is true with every casual/non-fan I've ever shown Godzilla movies to...they don't care about the continuity.

Especially with the Heisei series. Forcing a non-fan to watch all 7 of those for the sake of the continuity and the continuity alone is akin to torture. My wife for example had mentally checked out by VS Mothra, and she actually LIKES some of these movies.
Last edited by Legion1979 on Sun Jan 23, 2022 10:58 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Which Godzilla films would you introduce your friends and family to the series with?

Post by Kaltes-Herzeleid »

Legion1979 wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 10:49 am watch all 7 of those for the sake of the continuity and the continuity alone is akin to torture.
Agreed on this. When introducing someone to the series or the genre as a whole, I try and base my selections on what I personally consider the best (in terms of thematics, enjoyability, effects, etc.) along with their personal tastes. Like say, if someone just wants a fun action escapist movie I'd suggest something like Ebirah, Horror of the Deep or Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla, and so on and so forth. Giving someone a laundry list of continuity busywork is a real turn off and a big reason why nowadays I tend to avoid continuity heavy stuff. It becomes a chore to get through.
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Re: Which Godzilla films would you introduce your friends and family to the series with?

Post by Legion1979 »

Kaltes-Herzeleid wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 11:43 am
Legion1979 wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 10:49 am watch all 7 of those for the sake of the continuity and the continuity alone is akin to torture.
Agreed on this. When introducing someone to the series or the genre as a whole, I try and base my selections on what I personally consider the best (in terms of thematics, enjoyability, effects, etc.) along with their personal tastes. Like say, if someone just wants a fun action escapist movie I'd suggest something like Ebirah, Horror of the Deep or Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla, and so on and so forth. Giving someone a laundry list of continuity busywork is a real turn off and a big reason why nowadays I tend to avoid continuity heavy stuff. It becomes a chore to get through.
BAM, you got it. Telling someone, "Okay, we HAVE to watch ALL seven of these movies so you totally understand everything that's going on" is practically a threat. Honestly, if someone really has to see a Heisei film, I'd say just throw on VS Mechagodzilla. It's lightweight, its relatively fast paced with few slow spots, the battles are full of action and a little brutal, it's got the best Ifukube score of that period and it doesn't require a lot of knowledge of the other 4 films that came before it.

Honestly, as much as I'm sure people would love to show non-fans something like Destroyah, I'd say its really the worst one to start with.

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Re: Which Godzilla films would you introduce your friends and family to the series with?

Post by UltramanGoji »

Like Kaltes said, it really depends on the type of film they'd want to watch. There's very nearly a Godzilla movie for every mood so almost anything can work.

For general importance, I'd probably show:
- G54
- Mothra vs. Godzilla
- Ghidorah TTHM
- Godzilla 2000
- GMK
- G14
- Shin

For my personal favorites:
- Monster Zero
- Sea Monster
- Return of Godzilla
- GVKG
- GXMG

Not to bring up the "Heisei don't work" argument again but honestly, half-disagree with it. Everything after Godzilla vs. Mothra, yeah it's probably too heavy on back-to-back connectivity to show newcomers but G85-GVM all have less to do with each other than the rest of the series. There's obviously some connections (Miki and the ANEB affected Godzilla in the beginning of GVKG) but those can easily be explained to people in-person and don't require watching previous entries to understand.
Last edited by UltramanGoji on Sun Jan 23, 2022 2:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Which Godzilla films would you introduce your friends and family to the series with?

Post by Legion1979 »

If I'm going to show a non-fan a movie with Mothra, I can think of at least three better options than the Heisei film though

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Re: Which Godzilla films would you introduce your friends and family to the series with?

Post by HillyHulk »

My family has already been introduced to Godzilla (I learned about it from my dad), but if they hadn't been I would use Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. It's the most accessible for people of all ages (violence aside). For friends, I would start with Gojira as it's Godzilla at its most simple while also having depth from what it's meant to represent.

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Re: Which Godzilla films would you introduce your friends and family to the series with?

Post by UltramanGoji »

Legion1979 wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 3:00 pm If I'm going to show a non-fan a movie with Mothra, I can think of at least three better options than the Heisei film though
Ok, but that wasn't my point. My point was that there are some Heisei movies that can be shown to new fans/non-fans that don't really rely on the heavy continuity. I wouldn't show a non-fan GVM as their first Mothra movie either but that doesn't really negate that it doesn't really require previous entries to understand.
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